Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

LeedsMetropolitan BusinessReview

Produced by under graduates at

Leeds Metropoli tan University

Special Report: Going For Growth

May 2012 Free

Finance

dsTransport e e L y p u c c O th w EconomicGro isureandTourism e L ia d e M w a L o c itment ru c e R IT Start-UpsTes il ta e R g n ri rpriseManufactu

Inside:

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In This Issue

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IN THIS ISSUE: on High Speed Rail plans pages 6-7

Retail An inside look at Leeds Kirkgate Market pages 13-15

Special Report LMBR looks at

Trinity Centre: first look

Hot

Transport Samara Crystal reports

economic growth in the city pages 16-19

Finance Kathryn Shaw & Daniel Rosney at Occupy Leeds pages 22-23

Development A look at the future of page 10

Law Jodie Hirst takes an inside look

New city centre developments bucks national trends

at one of the most successful sports law firms in the country pages 32-33

The year ahead is just as hard to predict in Leeds and turns than Silverstone.

Leeds Business Barometer

New Leeds rail links

Hopefully by the end of this magazine you will feel more prepared for the ride.

Retail correspondent

Another annual turn has passed on the fervent rollercoaster that is Leeds business. The city possesses an economy that may be diverse but at the same time is consistently competent in a number of sectors.

And that, too, is the aim of this magazine. Leeds Metropolitan Business Review strives to provide you with a profound insight into the key issues facing the Leeds economy.

From the textile and manufacturing industries the city was built on, to sectors like I.T. and Science which continue to reshape the business prospective.

With the economic climate as unpredictable as it has been for the last few years, expect 2012 to be filled with more twists

Covering a range of topics with everyone doing their best to shed some light on a financial world which appears to be on a tight-rope at all times.

By the end of this edition you will have been around the world with the Occupy Movement, celebrated with the West Yorkshire Astronomical Society, and even a trip down to the Leeds gay quarter (we did say diverse).

These stories are among a bouquet of hot topics gathered by the business-hungry students of Leeds Metropolitan University.

And if that wasn’t enough to win you over, did I mention it’s free? What more could you possibly ask for?

Page 2 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

City nightclubs to close

‘Tesco’ law threatens local firms

Cold

Ryan McMurty

The LMBR team have travelled across the city, talking to leading figures in business, to find out what issues are the most important today and will be the most important tomorrow.

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Law

‘TESCO LAW’ WILL OFFER DIVORCE WHILE YOU SHOP affect the smaller, less dynamic companies.

Haigh Simpson Law Correspondent Next time you write your shopping list you might want to consider adding a divorce.

Disagreements over dinner could soon land you in deep water, as the Co-operative becomes the first high street brand to offer a family law service.

The move follows this year’s Legal Services Act, dubbed the ‘Tesco law’ ruling that non-lawyers are able to invest in and own legal businesses. The Co-operative spearheads an expected wave of high street retailers offering legal services, with SAGA and Marks & Spencer rumoured to be keen.

Paul Cotton, senior office partner at Eversheds’ Leeds office said, “The biggest impact initially is going to be felt by high street firms, those offering services such as personal injury advice and will writing. We are of the opinion that, initially at least, it is unlikely to have an impact on us as a firm or to a large extent other business to business law firms.”

Sarah Day, managing partner of DLA Piper in Leeds said, “The Legal Services Act will have most impact initially on the consumer legal services market, as it enables businesses such as supermarkets to expand the offering they can provide to retail customers out to legal services, in the same way as they have done for insurance.”

The hope for the high street brands such as the Co-op is that their consumer-friendly image will tempt customers away from the more ‘indistinguishable’ specialist legal firms. Martyn Wates, Deputy Group Chief Executive of The Co-op“innovative and erative Group, said, “We pioneering new While the service will believe that the presence not exactly be over-the- service will adof The Co-operative’s counter it does represent dress current trusted brand and values, unmet legal need together with a combinaa cheap and accessible in challenging alternative. The Co-op tion of first class products has already trialled free times.” and services, will provide ‘drop-in’ legal customers with greater advice centres in selected Britannica stores. accessibility to legal advice and better value for money.”

Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) has been established since 2006 and already Some within the legal industry have hit offers personal injury, will writing, estate back saying the quality of services will not administration and employment services. match those of a specialist firm and that This latest development, in partnership there will always be a need for expert legal with leading family law firm TV Edwards, advice. Phillip Way, partner at Mills & is being managed by Christina Blacklaws. Reeve said, “We’re going to see a barrage of paralegals and unqualified solicitors She said that the “innovative and pioneer- doing volume work, such as conveyancing ing new service will address current unmet and straightforward wills. legal need in challenging times.

“However, there will always be a need for “We want to make access to legal services bespoke specialist advice which can be better for people by creating and impleoffered by experienced lawyers, barristers menting innovative and socially responsiand solicitors from established firms. It’s ble services, running high quality services not going to be possible to settle the comwith fair and transparent pricing that the plexities of a multi-million pound divorce public can have real confidence in.” case over the counter at Tesco.”

The Legal Services Act is designed to promote competition and innovation in a market regarded to be ‘in need of a shake up’. There are fears specialist law firms will suffer as they struggle to compete on price with the high street brands.

However, top legal firms in Leeds have shrugged off the threat posed by ‘Tesco Law’. They believe the changes will only

An upshot of the new law is that Law firms may now be able to seek outside investment or even float on the stock market.

One of the few firms to have announced such plans thus far are Leeds and Sheffield based Irwin Mitchell. In March they announced plans to become an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) and it was rumoured they had intentions of listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Q&A

Allison Page: AWS Legal Business Woman of the Year

What inspired you to build a career in law?

I was keen to find a career that had a strong international bias. A firm like DLA Piper provides those opportunities in a fast-paced work environment which I really enjoy.

Is it harder for women to succeed in the legal profession?

It can be difficult for women to succeed in a demanding profession like law. But the world is definitely changing and sector-wide, there appears to be a growing movement towards supporting women. At DLA Piper we have set up the Women’s Network, an internal forum which provides an energising, empowering and effective environment for women working here.

It gives women a platform from which to network, find the right help and support to achieve personal objectives and help develop the careers of their contemporaries or more junior employees. Externally, I’m a member of The Two Percent Club, a national initiative which aims to help more senior women raise their profile.

Do you have any words of advice for people hoping to build a successful career in law?

It’s essential that you do your research into the type of lawyer you want to be. There are a whole host of different options and career paths and making the right choice is crucial. It’s all about finding the right fit to play to individual strengths and characteristics.

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 3

Business Brief

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

BUSINESS BRIEF Bite-sized news from across the Leeds business landscape LEEDS Metropolitan University suffered a 68% drop in LPC applications in 2010/11.

The slump comes as students are struggling to access funding for the course, which costs £6,000-£12,900 p.a.

Law schools are among those most affected by the biggest drop in university applications in more than 30 years. The number of candidates applying to study law dropped by 5.2% this year.

Haigh Simpson

New enterprise

THE LEEDS community foundation have set up a Leeds social enterprise fund . This funding is a grant system which grants from £250 to £200,000 for social organisations to enhance their objectives and thus becoming more successful and enterprising. Organisations need to demonstrate a certain aim to be given the green-light for funding. This is then looked over by the council’s local enterprise growth initia-

tive (LEGI) who decide which applicants receive their requested grants. The aim is to encourage local enterprise in deprived areas of Leeds.

Aryelle Hendricks-Thomas

ers etc. We can offer space for as little as £20 a month depending on the hours you can work.”

Aryelle Hendricks-Thomas.

Allied docks buyout

ALLIED London has bought the 150-year head lease Clarence SMALL social Docks in Leeds. The enterprise Fabrica1.2 m sq ft mixedtions Crafts have use scheme has been set up a workspace Allied London underperforming since in Leeds city centre the start of the receswill pay ground with rentable space sion. The development for people in the rent of around was opened in 2007 crafts and fashion £250,000 per year and currently has tenindustry. Director ants including Tesco Dawn Wood not and Pizza Express. only offers space but The Docks previoffers continuous ously belonged to Lend support and menLease, an international toring. Ms Wood says, “There will be a charge for space and property group. According to propertyyou will need to work a number of hours week.com, no debt is attached to the deal per week if possible, when you will also be and Allied London will pay ground rent able to book appointments with custom- of around £250,000 per year to British

Space for craftwork

Page 4 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

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Law applicants fall

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Business Brief

Launched in March 2011, Construction Yorkshire works with developers, contractors and subcontractors on major construction developments throughout Yorkshire. Cooper and Hall is a specialist quantity surveyor company based in Harrogate and aims to help local people benefit work wise from development in their area and recently won two national awards at the Constructing Excellence Awards. Phil Cooper, Director of Cooper & Hall, said: “Construction Yorkshire has a great deal to offer members and we aim to take to full advantage of their skills.

Other members of Construction Yorkshire include development giants BAM and Leeds Metropolitan University.

Francesca Done

approximately £4 million and Edward Symmons was approximately £17 million. It will bring the Edward Symmons employees up to 285.

Francesca Done

ELIZABETH HOUSE located on Queens Street in Leeds has had its £1.6 million renovation completed. The building originally built in the 1980’s will be the new headquarters of law firm Clarion. The firm will be moving its 100 person team from their 10,000 sq ft office on Oxford Place into a 15,000 space in Elizabeth House.

The development was bought by development firm J F Finnegan last year from the real estate investment group Valad and has undergone a grade A refurbishment programme. Bowcliffes and Knight Frank are acting as joint marketing agents for Elizabeth House. Clarion plans to move into the development in April of this year.

Francesca Done

Leeds game launch

Clarion House

Airline jobs boost

IRISH airline company, Ryanair, has announced that over 1000 jobs will be created across Europe in 2012. LeedsBradford Airport will be one of two airports in the UK to benefit, the other being Manchester, as the company expands its fleet of aircraft.

The move will boost the current 8000 strong workforce by 10% as the company hires pilots, cabin crew, engineers, sales and marketing staff.

LEEDS-BASED games studio Just Add Water have recently released their newest title Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD much to the delight of fans worldwide.

The game, originally ported from the 2005 Xbox title to current gaming platforms, puts players in the boots of Stranger, a pacifist bounty hunter scouring injustice from the Land of Odd. Boasting beautiful high-resolution graphics and a remastered soundtrack, Stranger’s Wrath HD has already sold over 1 million copies worldwide in its opening month.

Michael Glavin

Twitter trouble

company known for redeveloping Spinningfields in Manchester as well as the Brunswick in Bloomsbury.

Francesca Done

Entrepreneurs rage

SOCIAL entrepreneur Rob Greenland (pictured right) of thesocialbusiness.co.uk expresses his rage on twitter regarding the article “the trouble with not defining social enterprise” blogged by the Guardian.

He tweets, “I’m reacting so badly to this @guardiansocent blog that I might soon come out in a rash http://bit.ly/ztwmfq #socent #definitions”. Rob Greenland is an established social entrepreneur that has in recent years worked closely with organisations in Leeds including the city council, working to better health and adult social care in areas such as Armley and HareHills.

Aryelle Hendricks-Thomas

Milestone member

COOPER and Hall is the 60th member to sign up to Construction Yorkshire.

ONLINE impersonators could face legal actions warns Leeds law firm Cobletts LLP. Thousands of Twitter accounts are currently being used to mimic famous figures. Susan Hall, commercial partner and ICT and media specialist at the firm, said, “Regulations and legislation existed to protect the subject of spoof accounts, which regularly appear on the microblogging site. Although people setting up such accounts might feel they are technically astute enough to avoid detection, there are range of options open to those with sufficient money and determination to pursue those behind fake accounts.”

Haigh Simpson

Property merger

PROPERTY consultants Edward Symmons and Newcastle-based chartered surveyors, Storeys:SSP have merged at the start of this year. The offices in Leeds are set to combine and business will trade as Storeys Edward Symmons.

The head of Storeys:SSP Leeds office, Phillip Clarkson, will become director of the new company and Colin Hunter, who works as a landlord and tenant consultant, will also become director.

Storeys:SSP turnover last year was

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 5

Transport

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

HIGH SPEED RAIL Samara Crystal Transport correspondent

THE proposed High Speed Rail (HS2) may mean that you can be shopping in Victoria Quarter at 10am and have a coffee down Oxford Street by 11.20am, but is £32 billion a price that businesses in Leeds are willing to pay?

Well, you may soon find out.

Transport secretary Justine Greening has announced the government have given HS2 the green light saying that “we need to update our Victorian railways for the 21st Century.”

Announcing her decision in Parliament, Greening said: “I weighed up the evidence after one of the largest public consultations in our history. We wrote to more than 172,000 people living or working near the proposed line, visited communities along the 140 mile route and held 41 days of road shows.”

Greening went on to say that of the 55,000 responses that were received her decision was made very carefully, because the responses were both for and against.

“My decision had to take into account the full environmental impact of HS2 but also the benefits of HS2 to our economy, to jobs, to competitiveness. Not only to us today but to decades in the future.”

It was suggested that when making a decision as to whether to give the project the green light, not investing had to be considered too. It appears that it would have a negative effect on our economy if we didn’t have the HS2 and fall behind.

“When considering the HS2, I could have gone for the ‘patch and mend’ approach to our railway system, leaving our networks overworked and overstretched. But the price for

High speed rail (HS2) will be coming to Leeds, just don’t book your ticket yet that would have been paid in lost businesses, fewer jobs and more misery for passengers.

We would have failed future generations who are depending on us to create the prosperous country they want to live in.”

There will be £6.2bn generated by high-speed rail, compared to a railway running at conventional speed.

The announcement by the transport secretary gives the approval of the 225mph line project from London to Birmingham and on to Leeds, then Manchester.

Confirmed routes through Leeds are to be outlined later this year, with expectations of it opening by 2032-33 after the outcome of a public consultation. When set in stone, what does the HS2 mean for the Leeds economy?

Ian Williams, director of business representation and policy at the Leeds Chamber of Commerce, said: “There is a possibility that the HS2 will see more local people commuting to London, but I doubt whether the numbers would be significant.

“I think without HS2 our city and city region would become even more uncompetitive and we would see more people leaving to search for jobs elsewhere.”

High-speed 2 is expected to generate £29 billion in economic benefits, which equates to £34 billion in additional business benefits each year and thousands of jobs, by widening produce and labour markets and attracting inward investment. Campaigners for the new network are also excited about

Page 6 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

“In some areas, resident’s houses are right in the middle of the route and will therefore be knocked down”

new international business prospects for the city, because the HS2 will connect Leeds to Europe and the rest of the world by reducing the journey time to London airports and St Pancras.

Mr Williams continued; “We at the Chamber surveyed our members of the business community last year about whether they supported HS2 or not and over 90% were supportive.”

However, whilst most businesses may be supportive, there are some concerns from others and the public.

John Whitelegg, a research leader at Stockholm Environment Institute University of York, said: “If we really want to create jobs in all local economies, rather than drain them away along a very fast railway line, we could sort out extremely poor quality commuter railway lines around our cities, improve interregional rail links and build segregated bike paths connecting schools, hospitals, employment sites and public buildings to every residential area.”

The main concern for those opposing the network is disruption to the environment and communities.

The route, which cuts through areas of natural beauty, houses and schools, has provoked criticism from locals who are living there.

One resident of the Buckinghamshire area said: “When schools are closed, teachers are losing their jobs. It is unviable.

I can’t believe we are still here having this conversation and the Government is still going

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Transport

GETS GREEN LIGHT “The route, which cuts through areas of natural beauty, houses and schools, has provoked criticism from locals who are living there”

In some areas, resident’s houses are right in the middle of the route and will therefore be knocked down. Home owners will be compensated, but they say that it isn’t good enough; they want to stay in their houses.

Forecasts for passenger numbers are uncertain when it comes to the HS2 and there is no guarantee the demand will be there, some even say it will only be used by the ‘upper

At the moment demand far outweighs supply so the cascading of stock from other lines is the only option to help alleviate some of the chronic overcrowding many local lines experience.

At the end of the day anything is better than nothing.”

The Chamber admits that this situation isn’t ideal and they will be lobbying for future franchise agreements with train operating companies to include investment in rolling stock as part of their agreement.

The proposed route connects Leeds via Manchester ahead. It’s just a vanity project.

Nothing more.”

December, are old and that no investment is being made in new ones.

Mr Williams: “Because of the demand for rolling stock across the country the likelihood of new stock coming to the region is slim.

market’.

A big concern with the HS2 project green light is the lack of investment in existing rail infrastructure.

There is a long way to go and 2032 does seem like a light year away, but this is an issue that will affect our city.

Recently the Department for Transport announced that 50 carriages from networks around the country have been allocated to the Yorkshire rail network.

With over 90% of businesses in Leeds campaigning for the project and a prospect of international business being brought to our front door, it seems likely that opinion will be mainly positive now that HS2 will be full steam ahead on its way to West Yorkshire.

Whilst there is no suggestion that the trains are unsafe, there is discontent that the carriages, which arrived in Leeds in early

METRO CHAIRMAN SAYS YES Following the announcement

of the Government’s go-ahead of the high-speed HS2 network, Metro Chairman Cllr James Lewis has revealed how much he has welcomed the news.

“Being part of a high-speed network linking us with London, Heathrow and the rest of the country is important for West Yorkshire in attracting businesses making investment decisions.

“HS2 will free up capacity on already busy local rail lines, but it will only be effective if those routes are improved to spread the benefits of the high-speed

link across West Yorkshire and the Leeds City Region,” he continued.

Cllr Lewis, announced his plans to press the Government to start work on the link in Leeds at the same time as work starts on the link in London and not wait six years. West Yorkshire can start to feel the benefits straight away and the south of the country will.

Metro’s Director, Kieran Preston, said: “The go-ahead will influence investment decisions in Yorkshire by businesses for years to come, helping create new local jobs and secure existing ones.”

Daniel Rosney’s take on the HS2 page 36

Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council’s executive member for development and economy, expressed how beneficial this link will be to our area, saying that not only would HS2 transform rail journeys around the country, but it would bring massive benefits in terms of the potential for Leeds business, investment, jobs and leisure.

He went on to thank the large number of businesses and everyone who has backed the campaign.

Yorkshire is set to reap over £2bn in economic benefits from the high-speed link.

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 7

Tourism

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GAY QUARTER ROW

“

The gay village will benefit Leeds as a whole

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and laid back atmosphere.

Leeds Gay Pride attracts thousands of gay and bisexual Liverpool was recently granted a similar people to the city centre “gay village” status having seen the huge

Rebecca Brown

Leisure and tourism

such as The Viaduct and Mission, he says, “people come to Leeds from all over the world and what a great advertisement it is for our city to have an officially recognised gay quarter.”

success of Manchester’s Canal Street.

However it has been argued that Canal Street takes being a tourist attraction to the extreme, attracting rowdy groups, hen parties and party goers that spoil the area for the city’s locals and gay community.

It has however boosted business for the Liverpool bars and clubs it involves.

Sarah Carmondy, editor of Gayleeds.com is spearheading the campaign, claiming that it will benefit not only businesses in the “People come to area but Leeds as a Leeds from all over whole. the world and what

Unlike Manchester’s Canal Street, the Leeds gay quara A campaign to grant official status to the ter will include a great advertisement Leeds ‘gay quarter’ has sparked much much smaller area Following the success it would be for our debate and divided the city and nightlife and fewer bars. of Leeds Gay Pride city to have an community. Plans put forward to Leeds With just five bars last year which City Council to rename the area from Call attracted 23,000 peo- officially recognised New Penny, Fibre, gay quarter” Lane to Bridge End and the far end of Viaduct, Queens ple, Pudsey conservaBriggate the ‘Leeds gay village’ are pressCourt and Mission, tive MP Stuart Andrew recently joined the ing forward, despite much opposition. campaign, giving it his backing. Bars such and one sex shop, Bent. According to the schemes’ Facebook group, which has over as Fibre and Queens Court are popular The plans were initially proposed by local with students and professionals in Leeds 200 members, George is putting forward entrepreneur and gay businessman Terry regardless of their sexuality. Many worry the idea to paint the railway bridge with George. As the owner of some of Leeds’ Rainbow stripes, a garish and obvious way that the introduction of an official gay most popular gay bars and club nights status to the area would ruin this positive to signify who is most welcome there.

Page 8 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

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News

ENERGY COMPANY SET TO SHOCK COMPETITORS “ We are very much ‘thought leaders’ in The company, which was estab- the lished in 2007, designs, installs renewable and commissions renewable energy energy systems, including sector in the solar PV, Solar Thermal (hot UK ” water), Heat Pumps and Wind be to continue to treat our customers and staff in the best way possible. Then there will be expansion geographically”.

Emma Quinlan

Creative industries

A RENEWABLE energy company that recently opened up an office in Leeds has said that they aim to become the leading renewable energy installer in the UK by March 2015.

Eco Environments, which opened up a branch in Leeds three months ago, aims to do this by expanding the business even further and adding to their renewable energy technology.

According to Mr Hunt, “The company was established to help homes and businesses become more energy selfsufficient, reduce costs, and reduce carbon emissions.”

With 6 regional offices in the UK, Eco Environments expects to open up new offices in the south this year, as well as growing the size and capacity of their current offices.

Speaking of plans for the Leeds branch, Mr Hunt said that, “ [We aim] To continue to expand our team there and to build our company and reputation in the region.”

Mr Hunt also added, “We are very much ‘thought leaders’ in the renewable energy sector in the UK, with direct contact with government ministers and shadow ministers, and have featured on ITV news, BBC Radio 4, the Financial Times, Telegraph and the Daily Mail.”

In the past two years, Mr Hunt says that, “There has been a huge uptake in installations… [which] is vital for a number of reasons.

One of course is to protect our environment and to reduce the use of fossil fuel. Other reasons include reducing energy bills and reliance on the big energy companies.” He also added,

“We will continue to campaign for the advancement of renewable technologies in the UK and continue to offer the best service to customers bar none.”

Picture by Nualabugeye

David Hunt, the company’s sales and marketing director told us, “We aim to be the most customer focused and leading renewable energy installer in the UK by March 2015. [The best way to be] the most customer-focused, would

Turbines for the domestic, commercial and construction industries.

“There have been over 130,000 domestic installations since April 2010 nationally, although there are over 24million homes, so plenty more people need to embrace it.”

PLANS FOR NEW GREEN JOBS BY 2020

Sana Abubacar Manufacturing

Plans to create new “green” jobs in Leeds by 2020 are being made, according to a research commissioned by Yorkshire Cities.

The project’s aim is to achieve a rapid transition to a low carbon economy. George Munson, energy and climate change manager said, “These jobs will not be financed directly, instead

they are expected to be created by the private sector as demand for low carbon goods and services rise in response to things like increased energy prices, carbon taxes, CSR (corporate social responsibility) demands, positive government policies and incentives.”

The report reveals that there are approximately 21,000 ‘primary’ green jobs in Leeds City Region. This represents 1.5% of all employment in the City Region.

Waste & recycling (25%) and water supply & waste water treatment (20%) are the largest employment sectors followed by energy management (18%).

Leading businesses in the city such as Kelda are already pioneering low carbon products and capturing new markets.

According to Ben Roche, manager of energy and carbon from Yorkshire Water, the areas that they will be promoting include wind turbine development, commercial waste to energy and micro-renewables (lowcarbon production of heat and electricity at a small scale).

For a look at Kirkgate market see pages 13-15

Employment in the low carbon sectors is predicted to double by 2020, according to the report, with significant growth areas being offshore wind, onshore wind, biomass, waste recycling and reuse, crosscutting services and low carbon buildings retrofit.

However there are a range of needs and barriers identified which could slow the growth of the industry, including a lack of upfront finance and a lack of knowledge and contacts.

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 9

Development

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

quote “pull goes here

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and here and here

Leeds catches u rival cities reta Page 10 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

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up to ail centres

Development

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS ON TRACK TO OVERHAUL LEEDS SHOPPING SPACE

Nabeelah Kathrada Natalie Werner Retail correspondent

Development

EVERYMAN Cinema operators will be making its northern debut at Land Securities’ landmark Trinity Leeds when the leisure destination opens in spring 2013.

THE Merrion Centre is to undergo a multi- million pound revamp by spring 2013, with only 4 of 8 units now needing to be filled.

This will be Everyman’s first venue outside of London and the South East and underlines the calibre of leisure and retail operators that the development is attracting.

Town Centre Securities (TCS) who own and run the Merrion Centre have appointed Europe’s most progressive interdisciplinary design practice BDP Manchester Studio to redevelop the 77,000 sq ft of retail, restaurants and leisure outdoor space.

When the cinema group decided to join Trinity Leeds in 2009, Land Securities’ leasing director John Grimes said:

The scheme is named the ‘New Front’ and is situated opposite the site of the up and coming Leeds Arena.

“This is a real coup for the city. Everyman is an innovative, independent cinema operator that created an individualistic and personalised viewing experience, combining a mix of film, events and live entertainment within its premises, where customers can relax in sumptuous surroundings and enjoy a true entertainment experience.”

With 30,000 sq. ft of the area agreed and let to bowling alley 1st Bowl, TCS are currently in legal talks with restaurant buffet Cosmo and a leading gym operator, who between them take up four units.

The boutique cinema, will be opening alongside leading fashion brands in a destination served by a stylish new restaurant area that includes two Conran designed restaurants.

The first UK venture outside the capital for international restaurant operator D&D London puts Leeds on a list of locations for D&D’s distinctive eating establishments that includes international spots such as; New York, Paris, Tokyo and Copenhagen With 120 shops, stores, restaurnats and kiosks Leeds Trinity is bringing together the best in high street and high end brands, confirmed stores include: Mango, Cult, Hollister, Boots, Bhs, H&M, Next, Oasis, Warehouse, Holland & Barratt, 02, Game, River Island, TopShop and others.

As well as shops the project will include plenty of places to eat and relax whilst overlooking the shopping below. Some confirmed include: Yo shushi, Carluccio’s, Handmade Burger, D&D (Conran and Partners) Giraffe.

Suzanne Gallagher, Asset Manager of TCS said: “We are at the early stages of the project.

Now that we have had the green light on the planning we will be going back out to the market to target a variety of restaurant and bar operators.”

Plans have also been set out to regenerate the current car parking, by adding new lifts and staircases as well as modernised technology, including automatic number plate recognition cameras and flexible payment & pre-payment systems.

With 70,000 office employees and 1,200 residents within walking distance the refurbished area will be a booming environment socially and economically when completed.

Other developments nearby are underway as two hotels are proposed in the surrounding area including a 131 bedroom Premier Inn due to open in Spring 2012 and 4* Copthorne Hotel.

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 11

News

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Piicture by Right Brain photography

WYAS SEEING STARS AFTER LOTTO GRANT

The sky’s the limit: Leeds Astronomy society plans big changes thanks to a generous lottery grant

Michael Glavin Science correspondent

equipment gives us the opportunity to develop our skills in CCD imaging and photometry. This is a new area for WYAS and we aim in the future to develop the skills of our members so that research quality photometric results can be forwarded to archive facilities for use by professional astronomers. .”

THE WEST YORKSHIRE Astronomical Society has received a grant from the National Lottery to develop its research equipment.

Engineers at WYAS are working on the automation of the dome to match the rotation of the 14-inch telescope, effectively making it robotic.

Tony Doubtfire, representative for the Society, stated; “The purchase of research grade

Once completed it will aid people with disabilities to control the main telescope

“As well as developing equipment, the society intends to use the lottery grant to build better facilities at the centre”

whilst carrying out their own projects. The introduction in July 2010 of high speed broadband has made connections to southern hemisphere and other worldwide robotic telescopes a real possibility.

As well as developing equipment, the Society intends to use the Lottery grant to build better facilities at the center.

“We are currently planning to build a larger meeting room, ancillary rooms and a ground floor observing platform. We believe this will accommodate our needs for the future and may also permit us to build a radio telescope. “

ENCORE! FOR THEATRE COMPANY

Sally Hufton

Leisure and tourism THEATRE companies in Leeds are due to be affected by government funding cuts in April, but surprisingly the business with the biggest revenue slash isn’t worried about the cuts.

The Red Ladder Theatre Company based on York Street, will face the biggest cut of 40% between 2012 and 2015 due to the Arts Council for England

(ACE) receiving less government money.

The theatre company aims to make up the loss through other less traditional methods. Red Ladder Artistic Director Rod Dixon says: “We’re trying to apply for trusts and funds to do work which is socially acceptable “We want to work with prison inmates and ex convicts through theatre to help them to not reoffend”.

Red Ladder has plans to develop their Red Grit Training Company by working with prisoners at HMP Leeds, training them in theatre skills and allowing them to enter a

Page 12 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

paid training course at the end of their sentence. Mr Dixon says the theatre company will “continue to make art but as more of a service”.

Media news Pages 24-25

The cut will be effective from April and represents a reduction in funding from £253,000 in financial year 2010/2011 to £160,000 in 2012/2013, making Red Ladder’s percentage cut one of the largest reductions in the county.

Companies to lose out on government grants include The West Yorkshire Playhouse, Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre. However, Mr Dixon is remaining positive about the arts sector. He says:

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

TRADING PLACES

An in-depth look at the future of Kirkgate Market

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May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 12

Kirgate Market

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Market trader’s future is in doubt with Ki rkgate market rejuvenation plan Leeds City Council.

Ryan McMurty Retail correspondent AS PLANS are made to rejuvenate Leeds City Market, easily Europe’s largest indoor market -- with over 600 stalls -five traders fear they may be not be getting a fair deal with the plans proposed by

The costs of implementing these changes are significant and in the consultant’s view it is also unlikely that Leeds City Council could undertake these changes without private sector support. With this in mind it has been recommended that the markets become a Limited Liability Partnership. This effectively makes Leeds Markets a jointly owned company between Leeds City Council and either a sole or a number of private sector investors.

This has been the main cause of concern for market traders, who are worried about their futures under private ownership. With the cost of the scheme being estimated at £30million, the council said they will put £10million

with the remaining £20million coming from investors, who would enjoy a 99+ year lease.

The Council will have no control of how the market is run. In terms of the renovation, it is likely that the buildings built in 1976 and 1981 would be demolished, with other stalls being rearranged to cut the space by 25%.

Sue Burgess, Leeds Markets Manager from Leeds City Council, said this week: “It is important to us that we’re honest with you. No decisions have been made at this stage, but in order to survive and flourish Leeds Markets does need to change and the current financial strains experienced by public sectors across the country offer limited opportunities for this.”

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Page 14 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview With Eastgate Quarters arriving in the next couple of years, situated right beside Kirkgate, Leeds officials have decided action is needed to avoid the market going out of existence altogether.

Profit has been steadily dropping from around £3.5 million in 2006 to just over £3 million in 2001. It has been predicted that will fall to £1.5million. This has coincided with a drop in footfall from 317,000 in December 2006 to 214,000 in December 2009. A consistent drop of 11% per annum. At a Council meeting on 17th January, traders posed the question of a possible Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) being set up to oversee the market.

View from the floor: What the traders think about the proposed changes

However, this seems to have been ignored advice by legal firm Nabarro; who coincidently represent Hammerson. Hammerson are in the company in charge of the Eastgate Quarters development.

The consultants report for the modernisation strategy explains that concessions have been granted to attract traders to secondary pitches, with rents in the indoor markets ranging between

Occupy Leeds Pages 22-23 £25 to £52 per square foot per annum.

It has been put forward that these concessions should be removed after modernisation, as all stalls will enjoy 100% prime locations.

This means a rise in rents for many current traders along with a proposed rise in service charges for traders on George Street. They will have to also be offered new contracts and re-selected.

Only the private company would have a say in when traders can be evicted, which could be at any time. The council would also have to oblige, as they would have no say.

Chair of the Scrutiny Board, Councillor John Procter Wetherby argued that the Executive Board could not possibly discuss this report without understanding if the private company set up to run the Market would expect to take the profit from the traders’ rents.

At the moment the Market makes a profit that is reinvested across Leeds benefiting all residents. There is a worry that investors would pocket these profits and that public services would suffer.

Feature

Tanya Harris Business correspondent THE REPORT was drawn up by Quarterbridge Project Management Ltd. and recommends that the council sign over the market to a Limited Liability Company for a 99+ year lease. It also states plans to reduce the amount of stalls trading there by 25%.

In July last year on BBC Radio Leeds Councillor Gerry Harper said: “Personally I think it’s too big. If it was up to me I’d make it slightly smaller. I think overall it would make it more effective if we knocked down the bottom then we build a car park next door to it.”

keep the market prosperous. In a recent meeting a main topic of discussion was how to publicise the centre to younger shoppers and students in the area. The possibilities of a leaflet campaign were discussed and many of the members seemed eager to be involved.

Ricky also recognised this as a concern saying “We’re not getting much of the younger generation coming in. We used to see them shopping here with their Mums when they were little then they’d come back to do their shopping when they grew up. I don’t know if they don’t want to be seen in here or what.”

The Friends of Leeds Market meet regularly to discuss the issues that the market faces and aim to keep rent prices fair and the centre flourishing.

The owner of the Dazzle Jewellery store says “anyone who is willing to help us is a good thing.”

However, the report has already received a number of criticisms from councillors and workers alike.

The Scrutiny Board were told by market trader Liz Laughton that “the report shows no understanding of what a market is. Its sole interest is in raising the maximum return for the partners.”

Many of the current traders see parking as a major issue affecting their businesses.

Head of the Scrutiny Board, Councillor John Procter Wetherby voiced a similar Ricky Brown runs the Tony Banks fruit opinion, saying that the Executive board and veg stall. He says: “At the moment could not discuss the report properly we’re struggling like all businesses. without before understanding whether Everybody’s struggling and if anyone tells or not the private company set up to run you any different they’ll be lying to you. the market would be expecting to make One of the main issues is parking. It’s a profit from the traders’ rent. ok if you’re an OAP and have a bus pass but if you drive here you have to pay £10 The Executive Board are set to discuss for parking, if you go to a supermarket Quaterbridge’s report next month. to do your shopping you can park free.”

Mohammad Arshad, a cloth retailer went Ricky Brown, like many other current even further by saying: “Parking literally traders is very aware that their killed the market”. businesses rely on the actions of the council. However he remains optimistic Interest groups such as Friends of Leeds saying that “there’ll always be a future Kirkgate Market are working hard to but we need help.”

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 15

Special Report

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Can Leeds grow a

workforce of over 39,000 people. It is the third largest manufacturing centre in the UK. Many companies are expressing their need for help from the government in order to increase growth in their sector.

Help is needed

Phillip Jones, of Duffield Printers Leeds says: “Small to medium companies like ourselves definitely need all the help they Manufacturing can through these tough times. It’s currently survival of the fittest and securing finance from banks for possible capital equipment investment is almost impossible. I’ve attended a couple of events at the Leeds City Council recently and they are definitely trying to promote growth in Leeds, but how successful they have been so far I’m not sure. Smaller companies like ourselves are SINCE the recession, the EEF - the often bullied by bigger organisations into manufacturing employers organisation, payment terms of 90 days or more and has downgraded its growth forecast to just either you accept it or they move their 0.9% in 2012, after effects of the Eurozone, business to a rival company that will. Such concerns that fewer companies can cope long payment terms damages cash flow after price rises of profit margins and job and can put well run profitable companies shortages. After manufacturing was at risk.” outperforming other sectors as the economy began to pull out of a David Baggely, of Leeds city council, says: recession the news of a much slower “The government growth is creatdoes need to do a “The news of ing concern to number of things to where the future of a much slower support the growth manufacturing lies growth is creating of the sector. The in Leeds. concern to where biggest challenges are around skills – the future of Chief economist replacing workforce Ms Lee Hopson, of manufacturing skills within manuthe Manufacturing lies in Leeds” facturing as people Organisation UK retire – and attracting says: “Manufactura new generation into manufacturing. ing has been a key pillar in the recovery so far and it looks like the sector will still end “There has been a lot of talk from the year on the up with positive output politicians about the importance of and orders responses posted over the past manufacturing in terms of helping quarter. However, short-term confidence ‘rebalance’ the UK economy in the wake has all but fallen away. of the recession. What that means is that they want to see a more diverse econoThe manufacturing sector in Leeds my, with less over reliance on financial generates 10.8% of Leeds’ total output of services in particular. They also want to over £15 billion a year, employing a

Maybelline Byrne

Page 12 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

boost export-led activity to help with the balance of payment“ The results of the Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey show that manufacturing exports have increased for the forth quarter in a row, boosting hopes of an export - led recovery in the region.

Overseas orders

The report shows a 46% increase in overseas orders and a 20% increase in overseas sales, from last quarter, with an increase of 89% in manufacturing export orders and a 81% increase in sales in the second quarter witnessing a dramatic year on year improvement. The service sector also displayed signs of improvements in exports with overseas orders rising by 5% and overseas sales increasing by 19%.

Ian Williams, director of policy at Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, says: “The favourable export environment seems to be encouraging more businesses to trade overseas and these latest results signal an export and manufacturing led recovery. However, the persisting trouble in the euro zone poses a threat to exporters.

“Business success must sit at the heart of the Government’s policy. We are not out of the woods yet. Cutting the deficit is rightly a Government priority but we also need a strategy for growth.”

Baggely adds: “There are particular opportunities in what people are calling ‘low carbon manufacturing’ - which essentially means renewable energy technologies, waste management and recyling - and if Leeds succeeds in its bid to become the location for the Green Investment Bank, this will give a boost to companies across the region that are operating in this sector.

But the key thing is for Leeds to retain a diverse economy.”

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Special Report

new economy ?

Lauren Foley Textile correspondent

TO BEGIN assessing the economic growth of textiles within the UK, it is important to understand its relevance on a global scale. In 2000 the world’s consumers spent around one trillion dollars on clothing. These figures calculate that seven per cent of total world exports are in clothing and textiles. Significant elements of the sector are dominated by developing countries, particularly China and Asia.

The industry has unfortunately seen a steady decline due to competition from overseas. Activity in the sector within the UK is now focused on design but potentially the UK may also serve as a source of innovation, particularly for niche or high quality products. An example of this is the UK’s strength in wool production which has traditionally been recognised for delivering state of the art goods to international markets.

Malcolm Berwin, the president of the Leeds tailoring company Berwin and Berwin says: “We always do our best to ensure that our brands showcase the ultimate in quality and style by ensuring our brand is of a high quality we maintain our client and customer relationships. This is why we have been in business since 1885.”

The UK is also beginning to compete with the international market in specialised

materials by designing and manufacturing It appears that economically, although the technical textiles, such as those for textiles sector within the UK is in decline protective clothing and medical use. the retail expenditure is very much on the increase. This view is supported by a study Hainsworth is a textiles company based in carried out by the Institute for ManufacPudsey which specialises in heat resistant turing at Cambridge University which fabrics used in uniforms for fire fighters shows that 3.25 million tonnes of clothing all over the world. Adam Hainsworth, the and textiles flow through the UK each managing director says: ‘If you’re depend- year with consumers in the UK spending ant on one particular sector you would be around £780 per head per year on clothing experiencing a down at the moment but alone. because we’ve got so many products over all we can survive the peaks and troughs The textiles and clothing industry remains and it means also that we are completely the UK’s ninth largest manufacturing vertical and we like to control, where pos- sector and has a turnover of over £17.7 sible, the product from start to finish.’ billion per year. The textile industry has been hit by one of the deepest slumps in For the majority of businesses it is its history over the past five years and has becoming increasingly difficult to keep definitely been detrimentally affected by the up with the modern recession. Output has day approach to supply “The declined each year and demand. A recent industry has and from the first trend in UK demand quarter of 1997 to the seen a steady for clothing has been second quarter of 2001 decline due to the shift to ‘fast fashproduction collapsed ion’ with consumers by 30%. At the end of competition expecting to see an in- from overseas” the 1970’s the UK increasingly rapid range dustry employed over of styles 800,000 people. Two coming from the catwalk to the store. This thirds of those jobs have now gone. new demand for fast fashion has generated a huge demand for seamless production There are numerous factors behind the technologies which are one way to enable collapse in production of textiles within the quick production of garments. the UK: the impact of the strong exchange rate has made imports of textile products Hayley Warren, a textiles expert from much cheaper when priced in sterling. The Leeds said: “A complete garment can now high value of sterling has also led to a dip be produced on a knitting machine which in textile exports from the UK. costs around £50,000. This new technology leads to quicker and cheaper produc- There has been a erosion of this demand tion than traditional methods because [of] over the last decade, not least from the less labour intensive cutting and sewing.” decision by retailers such as Marks and Spencer to outsource their supplies from Modern industrialised methods such as outside the UK. The decision is often these are making it more difficult for busi- largely influenced by the price of manunesses using traditional facturing overseas, for example the hourly manufacturing techniques to compete. wage within the clothing industry in India This is steadily leading to a trend within only 30p as opposed to the UK national the UK where a demand for fashionable, minimum wage of £6.08. In addition to low priced, clothing has developed. this the price of cotton in China works out at around 1p per pound of cotton.

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 13

Special Report

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY FOR OUR ECONOMY How current developments are affecting the economy in the UK and regionally

Richard Bywater Finance

TOM Vosa’s lectures have become somewhat of annual event for Leeds Metropolitan University. Tom is knowledgeable in his field and is quick to tell us not only about the past, the present and the future of our financial services, but also about what he got right and wrong.

The lecture room is full of finance workers, academic staff and students.

It’s to no surprise that so many people turned up, even at 8am, considering Tom’s background in the finance sector. He’s currently the chief economist of Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale, and director and Head of Market Economics (Europe) of National Australia Bank. Not only that, but he also spent 7 years as an economist with the Bank of England.

The first speaker of today’s lecture is Richard Gregory OBE, who talks about the demographic changes of the political fix and the chances the public and private sector face with a sober tone, but then Tom Vosa comes up to speak.

Tom soon changes the mood with an opening joke about the current perception of bankers, stating, “When I turned up this morning there was a conference going called “Rapists of the Future” and at that point I realised the banking industry had a bad reputation.”

However Tom is soon to critique some of his projections from 2011: “Clearly we stuffed up growth for 2010

Page 18 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

actually it was 2.1%, we certainly stuffed up growth for last year it was around 1.

Well what happened there? Well actually the impact I’d say from the UK special factors by which mean a weak Q2, the impact of the Olympic games – I never thought before the output would be measured in the third quarter of this year rather than the second year of last – and the Easter bank holiday and the royal wedding have been much longer than we thought.”

However despite the large events of 2011, with the flooding of Thailand, the tsunami of Japan and the Arab spring, the state of the financial sector is still somewhat similar as it was in 2009.

In reality the financial sector only really started rebuilding in 2009, especially with the US and UK taking the hard decisions to directly inject large amounts of money into the bank, which the EU is now suffering for not doing.

“When we look at the global picture it’s still fairly much the same it has been since 2009. We’re in a bifurcated world.

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Far left: Tom Vosa, chief economist of Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale The advanced economies are doing badly the developing and emerging economies are doing well.”

It’s easy to get absorbed with our current affairs, with most of the western media concentrating, well, on western affairs. But putting it into perspective, Tom evaluates how much of the world is emerging with growing economies: “The good news is that the 85% of the world’s population are in those emerging and developing economies. The 85% of the world is seeing GDP growth rates of an in real sense of 6% per annum or higher.

Developing Asia is going to grow at 8%that’s partly China partly Indian but also a much stronger field of growth elsewhere.”

Tom prompts the room to ask which country has the fastest growing economy.

After the third try the room identified Mongolia as the biggest grower with 25%.

Turning his focus to Europe, Tom jokes how the marketing department told him not to use a picture of Edward Munch’s the scream of a summary of Europe. Europe had strong growth of the first half of last year, so much so that the Europe banks raised the rates to cool down the economy.

He cites how the governments failed to come together to make a comprehensive plan to tackle the recession, citing how they knew Greece needed help in 2009, yet was left unprompted until 2011. However, he is somewhat optimistic Europe will pull through.

“I think Europe is slowly getting there.

The ambition in 2009 was to kick the can down the road, but the two later we’re rapidly approaching the end of that road and we need a comprehensive settlement

by March. My hope is that we’ll get there.”

Much of the media focus of December 2011 was of the sovereign downgrades of many EU countries including France and Australia, swaying confidence and painting a somewhat depressing image for the state of the EU.

Special Report

have paid more attention to the money data, which were a better estimate of actual under lying nominal and real demand and less on inflation that was acquiescent because it was out-sourcing and manufacturing production.”

However Tom compares this to America’s rating downgrade:

With many economists speculating that we may experience a double-dip recession, Tom argues that we might just escape that, but this is “So really we’re highly dependent on bringlooking at essentially ing down inflation: a re-run of post World

“On the sovereign debt downgrade War 2, where to pay which back the debt we have “We think we’ll just about seems to avoid a double dip, but to do currently increased is have taken going to take a long that it depends on inflation up furfalling rapidly, which so far period of time” ther more has been the case, but we reaches of newspaper column time than need that to continue. I’m heartened to see I thought, I make one simple point: that five of the six energy companies are Standard and Poor’s downgraded the US’s cutting your gas bills by 5% in February last year. It made absolutely no difference. which again suggests that for the first time Arguably if the US double A on a S&P rat- there will be more downward pressure on ing but a triple A on Finch and Moodys inflation than upward. then downgrades to France and Austria are meaningless. Again Moodys and Finch “I think the biggest player in the UK in aren’t going to do anything.” terms of the rebalancing is really the government. There are a couple points I need Moving quickly onto the UK economy, to make here. he soon starts talking about how what we thought about it was wrong, citing the “Firstly borrowing targets have historically blue book revisions: been revised upwards and the government has always missed their borrowing targets “Whatever we thought about the UK and keep revising them up and indeed economy was wrong. It was wrong begin- when we look at the borrowing over the ning in those periods where we see revinext five years the autumn statement sugsions going back to 1998 from the O&S gests it’ll be a 100 billion pounds higher.” these are so the blue book revisions where they tell us the history of the country was The message that seems to be coming slightly different. across is cautiously optimistic. The government could be taking the right steps “What have we learnt? What we’ve learned to fix this problem, but with the recovery is that growth in the decade leading up to only really starting to develop from 2009, 2007 was much stronger by an average of all of the governments measure, small and 0.2% but essentially we had an economy large, will take many years to pass until it’s that was going close to three, than two and possible to tell if they’ve helped or not. three quarters.

“So really we’re looking at essentially a “Far more quicker to build the global re-run of post World War 2, where to pay financial crisis than had been ascertained, back the debt we have currently increased it certainly suggests that the MPC should is going to take a long period of time.”

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 19

News

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BROOKE NORTH CLOSES DOWN Partner Mark Burns said, “Although we and our clients have faced an extremely tough economic environment, the downturn has also presented some opportunities with businesses which are able to offer first rate levels of service more cost-effectively proving able to buck the trend.”

ECONOMIC

OUTLOOK: FINANCE

Janet Shead, a leading lecturer in Accounting and Finance at Leeds Metropolitan University, believes that the financial sector in Leeds is a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, with the current economic climate heading towards a standstill.

There is a definitive feeling of dread in the air where finances and economics are concerned. “I don’t think some of our banks are at as high a risk as some European banks but even all the measures that are being put in place are just sticking plasters, not solutions.”

Janet is convinced that the biggest problem in the sector is downsizing.

“If you look, most of the companies in Leeds are still there, they’re just shrinking. I think the one area that hasn’t shrunk is insurance, that’s still as big as ever.”

She continues, “You have legal requirements in terms of insurance that keeps that, generally speaking, in place. I would have thought that the growth in the finance sector would be managing and recovering bad debts, so I would expect that those departments have expanded.”

In terms of growth, Janet thinks there isn’t much hope for the near future. “I guess if I was saying there was going to be growth it would be more to do with the financial advice services, so financial planning and advice to businesses.

“They always say accountants win whatever and at the moment if you work in insolvency or those sort of areas you’re booming.”

Haigh Simpson Law Correspondent

Are ‘one stop shop’ law firms putting smaller personalised firms out of business? The question comes after Leeds based Brooke-North, one of Yorkshires oldest law firms, closed this month. The practice prided itself on offering a bespoke service to individual clients, an approach that came unstuck as the recession hit.

Meanwhile many of the cities larger firms including Clarion, Irwin Mitchell and Lupton Fawcett continue to grow and prosper.

Rodney Dalton, a senior figure at Brooke North for 16 years, said Brooke North’s approach of offering a bespoke service for its clients across different areas of law, rather than a “one stop shop” for all its clients had actually had a negative effect.

Dalton has now joined Lupton Fawcett who have recently acquired the Harrogate & TeesValley based practice of Davidson Large LLP. Its principle Russell Davidson will join the Leeds office of Lupton Fawcett as an equity member Director.

He said, “I believe that combining Davidson Large with a bigger practice is a sensible decision after sixteen years of running my own independent firm. Many commercial matters now require in-depth corporate, intellectual property, tax and litigation support and these are readily available at Lupton Fawcett, alongside a range of other specialisms.”

It seems clients are opting for a more streamlined, cheaper package over the traditional face-to-face service offered by the old guard.

Clarion are one of the firms benefiting from offering a more cost-effective service. It has reported strong growth with an increase in turnover of more than 25 per cent year on year for the period May to November 2011. Managing

Page 20 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

He continues, “2011 was another year of strong growth for Clarion both in terms of profits and turnover and we are confident that the momentum we have built will continue during 2012.”

Alison Page, partner at DLA Piper’s Leeds office said, “We’ve been able to adapt our business model to accommodate the challenges we’ve faced and have been very prudent. As a result, we have ridden out the downturn very well so far. The projects team itself continues to go from strength to strength and has in fact expanded here in Leeds over the last couple of years.

“Although the downturn does throw up challenges, it also provides opportunities to move into different markets and do new things.“

Healthy state

Despite its healthy state the law industry cannot rest on its laurels with the next year posing a potential landmark in the sector. The Legal Services Act 2007 is expected to shake up the industry as it opens up to non-lawyers.

It is still too early to say what will happen but there are some who fear that this will open up the marketplace to a much cheaper lower quality over-the-counter service.

Many firms appear unperturbed on the issue. In an article in Leeds and West Yorkshire Lawyer Ajaz Ahmed, founder of Freeserve, says “respondents can be broken down into three categories. The first take a head in the sand approach and a complete denial that it will effect them; the second recognise the need for change but don’t know how so they just say it will only affect other firms; and the third category of respondents note the need to change and are actively pursuing a course of action.

He continues, “Sadly the vast majority fall into the first two camps.”

The legal industry is in a period of change and Leeds firms will be looking to adapt and evolve to avoid more casualties in 2012. The signs are good but as the recession drags on the buzz word for 2012 seem to be affordability.

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News

“ Adam Selker from Bruntwood

Francesca Done Development

Walking through Leeds it is easy to see how the city has been affected by the credit crunch. To let signs that have been there for quite some time are still hoping to encourage tenants to rent thousands of square feet of office space.

Dozens of developments in Leeds remain without tenants. No1 Leeds, 10 South Parade, Toronto Square, The Mint, 9 Bond Court, 1 Broad Gate, Elizabeth House and West Riding House to name a few are all massive developments with office space available.

This shows how the supply and demand of commercial property in Leeds is currently out of sync. This leads back to before the recession in 2007 where the property sector was on a high and developments were going left, right and centre.

The famous Lumiere skyscraper project that turned into a disaster when it was put on hold in 2008 later to be cancelled in 2010 is a prime example of when the world of development began to grind to a halt.

Lumiere was supposed to be a mixed-use

I think Leeds is currently doing the best out of the cities in Yorkshire

skyscraper development which was going to be made up of two towers, the tallest at 564 ft and made up of 55 floors and the smaller one having 33 floors. The value of the site, which is located near Leeds train station and is still boarded up to this date, was estimated at approximately £21 million. After the development was cancelled the company developing the site, K W Linfoot, went into administration and investors gained their money back only through insurance companies.

The Business Desk recently reported how the construction sector has continued its recovery through December marking 12 months of expansion. However retail development seems to have survived the recession as Trinity Leeds has continued its construction throughout the last year as well as plans for the proposed Eastgate Quarter are still underway.

‘we’re not really too concerned about how risky it is we’ll just put loads of money in’ but because of whats happened with the banking crisis they’ve basically not got their money back.”

He continues, “However I think Leeds currently is doing the best out of the cities in Yorkshire. Bradford is pretty slow and Sheffield has good developments around the train station but because of Leeds’ image and size, it attracts inward investment from abroad and other areas so it has got a bit of a better profile in the development world. ”

Recent signs have suggested that the Leeds’ development industry is picking up. The council have approved a planning statement for an office development on Sovereign Street which will be built on the site where the ghost of Criterion Place lies and also the Clarence Docks area of Leeds, Leeds doing well which has been underachieving through Compared to other cities in Yorkshire the credit crunch has been taken over by Leeds has been doing well considering the Allied London. recession. Ian Briggs, editor to The Business Desk said “I’ve been lucky enough to As well as this the refurbishment industry cover a property conference every year in has continued to run smoothly. Adam Cannes. I went this year and I also went in Selka from Bruntwood, who are a lead2007 when I was with the Yorkshire Post. ing UK office and commercial property provider, said “When tenants are seeking “In 2007 there were loads of people from new premises the environmental impact Yorkshire and Leeds saying we’re doing their business has becomes much more this scheme and that scheme trying to important. bring investment from a lot of wealthy people.

“What’s more, it is not only “new build” projects who can achieve BREEAM “When I went this year there was hardly (Building Research Establishment Envianyone from Yorkshire or Leeds and the ronmental Assessment Method) excellent investors weren’t there either. You can’t buildings but also redeveloped buildings deny that the recession has hit the invest- such as City House above Leeds City Train ment world. Before investors would say Station.”

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 21

Feature

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

OCCUPY MOVEMENT The people’s protest that has travelled the globe pitches its tent in Leeds City Centre Picture caption goes here and here and here and here and here and here and here

Daniel Rosney Kathryn Shaw

Recruitment Finance correspondent

IN 95 CITIES across 82 countries and in more than 600 communities across the United States of America - the Occupy movement went global following the first largely publicised protest at Zucotti Park in New York City on September 17, 2011.

It has since dominated the news agenda and water cooler talk across the world.

Inspired by the Arab Spring, a revolutionary wave of demonstrations that began last December in Tunisia, a protest movement arose in Spain. The Spanish Indignants movement was a huge catalyst in the events to come, for the most part down to a leader in the movement who began the calls for a worldwide protest to be held on October 15, 2011.

AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works Some rights reserved byDaniel Rosney

Occupy Leeds protesters Protestors show their support through music Page 22 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

By this time demonstrations were being held across Europe, as well as the protests that were already spreading across the Arab world. Libya’s leadership was falling under the might of rebels and the revolution in Syria was getting more intense, with the formation of the Free Syrian Army.

The protests spread in earnest across the globe; Spain, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain had taken up the banners and that was just the start.

Soon enough a Canadian activist group, Adbusters, took up the call from Madrid and began publicising the worldwide protest. Here the idea for the Occupy movement really took flight.

New York City became the hub of Occupy Wall St. and this was the beginning of large media attention to the movement and the viral spread of the ‘We are the

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Feature

ARRIVES IN LEEDS 99%’ slogan. New York was closely followed by Occupy London, for which the London Stock Exchange was the target.

With the beginning of the Occupy movements came a wake-up call that would redefine the way we viewed global politics, money and the ever-growing gap between rich and poor.

Here in Leeds, the urge to fight the power had caught hold and an Occupy Leeds group moved into City Square on 11th November 2011.

A handful of tents and about 15 people were all that had gathered that first day, but hope for change was palpable in the air and the sound of an acoustic guitar floated through the biting November cold.

“Somehow the guys in the city of London have thrown their money away and asked us to bail them out. The gap between rich and poor is ridiculous and we’ve had enough”

Amongst the first 15 protesters was support worker Barry Blatt, 44. Mr Blatt was keen to discuss his personal reasons for joining the Occupy movement, which are inspired by his job. He believes that huge cuts to social services are unnecessary and are going to cause suffering to the people he cares for. He told us:

here at Occupy Leeds. Topics raised ranged from the NHS to banking, general finance to illegal wars.

But the overarching agenda appears to be the same. The world system is not working, there’s trillions of pounds worth of debt crippling various nations and greed is ever present throughout. As you read this the European economy is on the verge of collapse.

There is debate amongst the movement as to whether it is anti-capitalist or not, but something that can be agreed on is that there needs to be a greater deal of transparency and a greater deal of accountability for dishonest businesses and an elite of society who hold all the power.‘Cosmic’ Claire, a founding member of Occupy Leeds, said this of the protest:“We are having a lawful assembly to discuss these things and draw popular attention to these facts.

“A lot of people think ‘well what can I do about it?’ Well now the spark has been lit, it was lit in Algeria, then it spread across the Arab spring, we had the demonstrations in Spain in the summer, then it got to Wall Street and now that’s spread across the world.

“I’m here to represent those who the cuts affect, but can’t make a statement themselves. We’ve been done. We’ve been shafted. Somehow the guys in the city of London have thrown their money away and asked us to bail them out. The gap between rich and poor is ridiculous and we’ve had enough.”

“That’s what the Occupy movement is about for me, it’s about getting a global discussion going so that people can raise their awareness of all this. The world needs so much change and it has to start with debate.”

Speaking to several other people at the camp site, the movement very clearly means something different to everyone

I guess we can consider the Occupy movement a democratic awakening.

LEEDS GROUP THANKS SOCIAL MEDIA “I spoke to people in the real world about it but nobody was doing anything about it, then someone set up an Occupy Leeds group on Facebook, then somebody else set up an event and the whole thing started to roll. It was new to me. I’ve never occupied before.”

Daniel Rosney

Recruitment

SPOKESPERSON, Sheryl Odlum, thinks that the movement is successful thanks to social media:

Social media

movement, Billy Bragg, recently gave a free gig on site and he claimed “The whole idea of social media is getting young people involved in this. It’s very exciting that they’re interested as they’re the ones that are going to be in the shark end when it’s all over”.

Social Media is helping the movement to gather members and report progress within the city.

Member David Hartley adds: “Follow us on Twitter, read our updates on Facebook and go on the Occupy Forum.

On Twitter, by searching #OccupyLeeds you will see a constantly updated feed, and on Facebook the community group gives a more in depth blog about what’s happening on site and off site.

“There are plenty of ways you can muck in. It’s time for normal people to stand up and refuse to put all the money in the hands of a corrupt and self serving top 1 per cent”.

Musician and strong supporter of the

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 23

Media

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

ERASING TV BOUNDARIES

Some of the young people who contribute to the production of Erase TV

An innovative media project which gives youths a chance By taking on students who have failed to achieve the required qualifications that would enable them to continue into higher education, regardless if they are suffering from mental problems or social dysfunctions, they have found talents that have excelled in the arts.

Aryelle HendricksThomas Social enterprise

SOCIAL enterprise Future Arts continue to provide free music, media experience and workshops for 16-25 year olds.

The Leeds based organisation has been running since 2008 and has grown into a recognised provider of talent and staff to leading media companies the UK. Chief executive and founder Paula Temple came from a media background with fifteen years’ experience working in radio and DJing. With their online TV channel, ERASE TV, Future Arts have proved that they can find hidden talents in Leeds.

They provide unique opportunities, improving skills and employability for its students.

Organizer, Tony Barker explains “Those that benefit most we believe are those involved in our Future Routes and Future Youth initiatives. Our Future Youth program provides young people aged 13-25 with a chance to learn new skills and work with seasoned professionals within the music industry in music production, video and dance workshops.”

When asked what differentiates Future Arts from other social enterprises Mr. Barker continued: “Social enterprises by their very nature are not-for-profit; the profit that is made is recycled into society.

What makes Future Arts different are the projects that we run, which are always fun and engaging as well as the links and supHaving previously port that we give “So far this programme those attending received government has been successful funding, recent cuts Future Youth. We have forced the organi- in that it has reached are different besation to rely on other over 300 young people, cause not only do giving them a taster of we put the money resources in order the world of television back into the to fund their highly recognised and inspir- production” community, we ing work. Multi-media run and nurture programs and creative the projects that workshops allow staff and volunteers to our profits provide.” mentor and guide their students with the means to succeed. The focus is largely on Volunteers and mentors are head-hunted their television sector as they have found and welcomed all year round to take this to be where students excel the most. sessions. For this organization this is important as it helps them achieve their set Mr. Barker recalls: “So far this programme goals. has been successful in that it has reached over 300 young people, giving them a “Volunteers are appreciated members of taster of the world of television producour team, making a valued contribution to tion. The project has gained a name for the work that we do. We have a range of itself and it has been recognised by ITV volunteers working in different areas of Yorkshire who has indeed supported this the organisation, whom we nurture and project.” give the chance to get lots of different experience. Our volunteers get to work There have been numerous success stories on real campaigns working with our to come from the program with students creative members getting a real taster in being offered work placements at ITV the industry. We also have a number of Yorkshire; and some are starting to forge a industry professionals who volunteer their career, getting notability from the likes of own time to our Future Youth projects, The Princes Trust. mentoring our young people and providing them with a positive influence in their Despite being a not-for-profit business, lives.”

Future Arts have developed the idea of involving ethical buying, meaning to avoid As Future Arts enters its fourth year, they exploitation of their talents. seem to be set to continue to bring something new to the creative industry.

Page 24 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Media

LEEDS TV COULD HAVE A LICENCE TO THRILL muscians, giving the prospect for businesses to advertise on the channel.

Amy Solomon Media Correspondent

LEEDS has officially been granted a licence allowing them to create their own local TV, which is planning to comence in 2012.

A conference has been held by Leeds Televisions’ Nigel Dacre (former ITV News editor and founder of Inclusive Digital), Debra Davis (Acting Chief Exectuive of City TV Broadcasting Ltd) and Clare Bramley (Head of Canis Local TV).

The BBC licence fee will finance some starts-up costs, but advertising is likely to fund the services.

Leeds has a potential audience of 800,000 people and the opportunity to have a local TV channel will raise the profiles of up and coming artists and

JOBS LOST AT THE BBC AS COSTS ARE CUT

Leeds Television’s motto ‘a vision for the city’ incorporates working with other local organisations to build a strong, local TV station in Leeds.

The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt said, “For consumers, this will mean a new channel dedicated to the provision of local news and content. One that will sit alongside other public service broadcasters, offering a new voice for local communities, with local perspectives that are directly relevant to them.”

A YouTube clip, produced by ‘Leeds Channel’ has gained more than 190 views.This shows there is support for Leeds TV to have a local channel.

“Leeds has a potential audience of 800,000 people and the opportunity to have a local TV channel will raise the profiles of up and coming artists”

Union reaction

Richard Edwards, spokesman for the Radio Leeds branch of the National Union of Journalists said: “Members are deeply concerned that if the cuts go ahead as proposed, it could cause significant and lasting damage to the valuable service that local radio provides.

The BBC plans to cut 2,000 jobs and 20% of its budget. The NUJ have fought for their rights, along with Bectu and Unite to

Debra Davis said: “It’s not just about YouTube or social blogging. We have one shot to increase the chances of success for local TV. The hyper local emphasis is to inform, engage and entertain the viewers and it is a great chance to brand Leeds.”

Roger Greenwood of ViewLeeds thinks this will be a great opportunity for students saying: “they can work for us and can even end up working for ITV, BBC and sky. Leeds can lead the way.”

When university staff protested about job cuts, radio reported it but no TV station did. In communities, stories of importance to the people who live there go unreported everyday because

Radio Leeds will have its budget cut by a fifth, with an expected 11 redundancies.

Local TV is a great way for students to get involved. Part of the channel will be dedicated to the arts. This means that the university students can make a 10 minute ‘soap opera’ daily or weekly for the community. Not just actors but comedians and unsigned bands as well.

The Government says the local services must be given “appropriate prominence” on the electronic programme guide, to make it easy for viewers to find their local station.

Local reporter, Matthew Tullet asks “who covers the truly local news that doesn’t involve celebrities?”

THE BBC has announced that they will be cutting jobs in Leeds, Sheffield and York. An estimated 29 places will go at each centre in the following months.

they aren’t big or important enough to make the regional news agenda.

Business gets tasty Pages 30-31

ballot members across the BBC. The NUJ have informed members of redundancies. It is estimated that local radio, business coverage, investigative journalism and foreign networks will be the most affected.

John Baron, former Guardian blogger who now works at Community Magazine says: “Newspapers have fallen and as a result local news has suffered.

The Yorkshire Evening Post used to have 70,000 readership a night. Now it has gone down to 36,000. With the cuts on the agenda, it is thought that there is the danger that in the future community news won’t get covered, especially regionally.”

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 25

Economic Growth

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

DEVELOPMENT BLOOMS

“We’ve not been hit” says Dr Smales ment in the Leeds economy.

Natalie Werner Development

ECONOMICALLY the whole country has been affected by the recession. According to the State of the City report, the backlash has yet to hit development growth in Leeds.

The city has seen a tremendous £4bn worth of major development schemes in the last decade with manufacturing and retail making it one of the most diverse economies in the UK. Leeds has three major property developments appearing over the next few years with Trinity Leeds taking up one million square feet in the centre, massively improving and increasing its retail space.

Hammersons East Gate Quarters is taking up another one million sq ft of land including flagship store Marks and Spencer and John Lewis, accompanied by a giant multi storey car park. Both of these contribute to what is a very popular city for shopping and therefore a good invest-

Development along River Aire

Aire Valley to the east and Beeston Hill and Holbeck to the south. Redevelopment Dr Lindsay Smales, a lecturer of planwill make the area more accessible to the ning, housing and human geography from public.

Leeds Metropolitan University said: “People in Leeds love shopping, so it makes Many developments are at an early stage, sense to build these centres. However but it is expected that Leeds Trinity, Leeds visitors to Leeds may wonder where to go arena and Hammersons will bring in 7,500 when they arrive.” jobs to Leeds. Alongside this regeneration programme Aire Valley Leeds covers The second major development is the an area with significant investment in Leeds arena. A new entertainment venue the north, creating 40,000 new jobs and that will hold 13,500 people and is ex12,000 new homes. pected to bring in £25.5m per year.

The employment opportunities in Leeds Thirdly is the new Southern entrance for are on the rise, cracking down on the Leeds station. Leeds station is the second potential effects of the credit crunch. busiest outside of London with 101,000 passengers going through the station a A major issue aligning Leeds and, one that day. The development will see more peowill be enhanced by new developments ple travelling to the is traffic. Which“People in Leeds love south of the city by ever way you choose improving its shops shopping so it makes to access the city sense to build these and restaurants. problems arise as centres. However Leeds lacks a cycle visitors may wonder The South Bank network and has the planning statement where to go when they most congested trains arrive” sets out numerous outside of London. ideas in parts of the south of Leeds, including the former Dr Lindsay Smales said: “70% of people Tetley’s Brewery site which was demolthat work in the city centre drive. If an ished after 189 years of running, leaving incident happens at certain points, this 179 people unemployed. can grid lock the whole city.”

Plans are underway to build a new Project Space Leeds art gallery and a 900 space car park next year as the area still continues to be demolished.The area is a link between the city centre with Riverside to the north, Holbeck Urban Village to the west, the

Leeds attracts a total of 35.5 million visitors a day and 3.5 million at night. This is before these three major developments are introduced to the city. A priority set out over the next 4 years by the county council is to improve journey times and the reliability of public transport.

“Central Government’s budget plans did agree to open new suburban railway stations called the ‘Northern Hub’ with the suggestion of an extra 100 carriages on trains in the next 2 years, so the message is getting though.” says Smales.

Public transport is also being improved as £1 bendy buses from London are hoping to transform our public transport system, making them more accessible, cheaper and on time.The problem is being dealt with to increase the economical benefits in the heart of the city centre.

The centre for cities ‘2011 cities outlook’ report forecasts that Leeds is expected to be one of the top five cities to help steer the UK towards recovery away from the recession. It appears to be so far so good.

Page 26 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

AMID ECONOMIC GLOOM “Let’s remain optimistic” says Dent ing which industry specialists, property developers, architects and shopping centre directors came together to discuss how the city would prepare to move up on the UK’s retail rankings when Trinity Leeds open in spring 2013.

Nabeelah Kathrada Retail correspondent

LEEDS LOVES SHOPPING, the annual shopping event which sees retailers across the city offering discounts late into the evening, says that event led marketing can attract shoppers to the city centre, despite worries of economic growth.

Leeds is already Ranked 7th in the CACI UK retail hierarchy and consensus suggests that Leeds should aim to be the best city centre destination in the UK. Cath Follin, Head of City Centre Management and Markets, says: “The retail industry is incredibly important to the city of Leeds. The Leeds Lights switch on and opening of the Christmas market attracted visitors who contributed to the busiest footfall week of the year.”

The festival returned from 13th to 23rd October 2011 to celebrate the city’s unique There are plans for other parts of Leeds retail offer and saw 7,452 people pass retail too and we will see further growth through the city centre. in retail, output and employment. Further improvements to Kirkgate market using Leeds city centre is made up of over five attractive design, cultural attractions and miles of shopping streets with Briggate & green space, such as the planned South Albion Street within the UK’s top 15 for Bank city park, will pull shoppers in. pedestrian flows across the UK.

The retail sector is a big slice of Leeds’ economy, as it accounts for nearly 12% of output.

Leeds is the headquarter location for big names like Asda and, crucially, over 1 in 5 businesses and more than 1 in 7 jobs in Leeds are in the wholesale and retail sector.

Leeds offers a unique combination of shopping with 971 outlets and hundreds of traders to date.

The £350m Trinity Leeds construction scheme is also well underway and is the first major retail led development to start outside London since the downturn, creating 3,000 new retail jobs. It is scheduled to open in 2013, where it will take the city to fourth in the country’s retail rankings.

Together with the development of Eastgate Quarters (granted planning permission in July) an additional £1bn will be invested in the city’s retail sector in the coming years.

Marketing Leeds and Leeds City Council coordinated and endorsed the late night event through national advertising, with their website and social media reaching demographics of all ages.

Jean Dent, director of Marketing Leeds says: “Leeds Loves Shopping has developed over the last six years into an important part of the Leeds calendar. There’s no doubt that economic conditions are tough but the Leeds retail sector is resilient.”

The 2011 Leeds Loves Shopping calendar also featured a day dedicated to the unique independent shops on Saturday 15th October. That alone attracted 247,160 people, an increase of 8% on the previous Saturday’s figures.

Shoppers from independent retailers including Culture Vulture, Jumbo Records, Mad Elizabeth, Leeds Kirkgate Market and many more, claimed prizes from Capital FM’s Street Stars team and Leeds Guide, who were out spotting stylish Leeds shoppers.

Fashionpony and Capital FM hosted a grand fashion show on Briggate called ‘The Fashion Stop’, which showcased independent and emerging designers.

The festival also included other areas of interest such as a retail industry day dur-

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 27

News

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

START UP SUCCESS We take a look at new businesses taking shape in the region is all about helping people find properties to buy and rent quickly, while allowing people to market their properties or spare rooms cheaply. For those who are struggling financially in the current climate it allows them to sell their home without the estate agent commission .”

IT correspondent Recruitment

SOHAIL RASHID, a former property conveyancing lawyer from the Yorkshire firm Langleys and JB Law, created an innovative means of purchasing and marketing properties over the popular social networking site Facebook.

The social networking site is used by millions of people in the UK alone and its influence is powerful. Rashid said “with nearly 30 million UK users, Facebook is the ideal place to advertise your property as it provides the added Facebook features such as sharing with friends, like buttons and commentary. This allows people looking to buy, sell or rent a home to use their extended social network to find suitable people quickly”.

As well as practicing law, Rashid has a strong background in IT, and throughout his l egal career worked with the major global IT company Steria International.

Mr. Rashid, 26, has recently launched a service that allows homeowners, estate Property Place has already attracted more agents and landlords to market and view than 400,00 properties long before its properties online. He said ”Property Place official launch later this month.

AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works Some rights reserved by Tim Green

Sohail Rashid, entrepreneur

Rebecca Brown

Leisure and tourism

15 years of cocktail and mixing experience, he began working as a glass collector in Portugal at 14. He has since seen his passion for cocktails take him from Paris and New York to the American Cocktail Academy where he studied hospitality management and mixology.

Sophisticated and relaxed inside, the Maven has a back bar which far exceeds its minimalistic decor. The bar has a really personal feel due to no advertising or even a sign above the door - it relies on wordof-mouth, combined with repeat custom from a close and loyal group of customers.

TUCKED away from the rabble of Call Lane, The Maven is the first bar of its kind Its extensive menu is constantly changing as the friendly bar team create and experiin Leeds. Cocktail lounge by night and ment with new cocktails drinks academy by day, it is designed to change the way in which people drink and In the daytime the bar becomes a drinks enjoy their nights out. academy designed to help those who want to move into the hospitality trade. It trains Having been refused any loans or funding by banks, owner Claudio Antonio (or people on mixology and bartending. Nino “Nino” as he is known) put all his life sav- claims “Cocktail making is an impressive skill that can be constantly expanded and ings into creating his dream. With over worked on, it’s not only a skill for life but a

Page 28 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works Some rights reserved by SOCIALisBETTER

Emily DanielLevy Rosney

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Feature

WHO WILL HELP SAVE THE WELL?

Danny Moore Food & drink

Frank Carter from the Gallows.

The band played at The Well in June 2001.

more often than not the public feels that the owner or management are to blame, while management will retaliate saying the cause is a lack of customers.

the most important place in Leeds for hardcore music: the only place.” Any keen follower of the live music scene in Leeds would feel equally passionate, after all does Leeds really need another restaurant?

In this economic climate. It appears only the mainstream brands stand a chance.

Therefore, it is somewhat inspirational in this case to see people of all ages gathering to save the place they love. Proving to the owner that ‘Hell in the Well’ did have a customer base which was ever growing and reliable.

“The Well has an atmosphere unlike anywhere else in Leeds. It has a grungy On the morning of ‘Save The Well’ band atmosphere I associate with the original members and staff turned up early to live music venues I went to when growing prepare for the day. Vans and tour up.” explained 45 year old Tony Thwaite.

RESTAURANTS, bars, pubs and clubs all buses parked outside, “Until now it has heavy riffs bled from pose a threat to one another. In a city like to avoid “The Well is the most managed Leeds, known for its unbeatable nightlife, within and it was the modernisation evident not just the important place in this means that smaller niche markets are which many inner customers wanted to Leeds for hardcore fighting a losing battle to cope with the pubs have keep the bar open. music, the only place” city competition, as larger chains monopolise undergone.

I’m not Amply named ‘Hell England’s major cities. against in the Well’, the venue modernisation. looked as it always had and brought back The Well, situated on Chorley Street just Some places just don’t need it” many memories.

It suddenly dawned how outside Leeds city centre, is a small bar sad a loss this was. and live music centre. It’s an established The day went without fault and the size part of the alternative scene in Leeds playof the event became evident as there were Just like a pivotal moment in a ing host to some of the biggest bands in many online petitions headed ‘SAVE THE Hollywood film, where legions of people the country with headliners including the come together to take down an evil force, WELL.’ It’s undeniable that this venue has Kaiser Chiefs and The Killers. A number something others lack and its devoted fans of which turned up to play their hearts out many people gathered together. will not let it go without a fight. in an effort to “SAVE THE WELL” on the Gone were the earlier worries that the 7th of January. bands and staff may not arrive. It had now Ten bands took to the stage and it was a great day to be a part of, knowing you been replaced with a rush of The owner of the popular venue has were making a difference. As the crowds excitement. announced plans to close the club and left and the bands packed away, everyone make the building a restaurant. This didn’t moved to the bar. Chants of “Save the In recent years it has become common bode well with serial attendees. With well” filled the air. Let’s hope the owner for venues that played host to the teenage Leeds based student, Colette Hurdsfiel years of many Leeds residents to become takes notice of this message. saying “It’s a terrible idea, the Well is run down or simply to close. It seems

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 29

Food & Drink

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

FLIPPING GREAT IDEA Neil Tipping and Jon White, has created four new jobs and is set to further expand in a new manufacturing facility in south Leeds, following a six figure investment.

Maybelline Byrne Manufacturing

The expansion includes a brand new production line that manufactures various sizes of pancakes, including blinis at rates of up to 18,000 an hour.

A PANCAKE manufacturer in Leeds has received a £9000 business grant from the council to go towards the cost of a new automated production line, to speed up and boost production of its ‘secret recipe’ pancakes.

Neil and Jon first set up the business in 2005 in a small shop unit in Headingley, but it now supplies pancakes nationally to over 40 UK outlets, including Butlins and Merlin Entertainments Group.

The company, Enjays, set up by former university colleagues

The pair were recently joined

by Craig Hindmarsh, known

“We feel we’re at the start of a much bigger future”

for managing large blue chip food manufacturing businesses, who will drive the expansion forward.

He said: “I saw the potential from the first time I met them.

The growth of Enjays since its beginning has been phenomenal, showing that there is fantastic demand for its products.

“The new facilities are enabling us to expand our range and offer our existing customers exciting new products as well as allowing us to look at the food service sector and retail sector in more detail.

We feel we’re at the start of a much bigger future.”

AttributionNoncommercialNo Derivative Works Some rights reserved by Enjays

The grants come from Leeds City Council’s business growth fund, designed to support capital investment and job creation.

They are worth up to £10,000 and are available to cover up to 20 per cent of an investment in new equipment and the fitting out of premises.

Head of the council’s business and enterprise service, Phil Cole, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting entrepreneurs such as Neil and Jon. They have a great business proposition and new ventures of this kind play a vital role in creating new jobs and in developing a diverse and thriving economy here in Leeds.”

PUBS NO LONGER A HUB FOR GRUB their over all business strategy.

Rebecca Brown

Leisure and tourism LEADING pub and restaurant operator, Mitchell and Butler have this week announced figures and, with them a change in

Owner of 27 venues in the Leeds area, M&B have something of a monopoly on the pub trade in Leeds. They own plenty of popular drinking holes in the city, such as; Headingley Taps, All Bar One, Nation of Shopkeepers and the Toby Carvery pub chain.

Despite this, M&B have reported their tax profits to be down by 7.7% from 175 million to 157 million in the past year.

M&B have tried a number of

Page 30 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

Read about Leeds’ Olympics role pages 34-35

tactics to gain more business and keep the crowds coming through the doors. They have seen 8 changes of CEO in the past four years- a clear sign that the company is struggling and unsure of its future.

According to CEO Bob Idol, new investments into inner city pubs like All Bar One on Millenium Square, is going to change the direction in which the brand is heading. Focusing less on food and more on alcohol, eventually some of their bars will be serving only alcohol and nothing more.

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Food & Drink

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

Exquisite Cakes (above) cut the cake to celebrate their recently awarded funding.

Danny Moore Food & drink

steep learning curve, but having a head for numbers and being able to over-see the finances was very influential on key decisions.”

Hand-made has gone from strength to strength, and has taken the recent recession in its stride. Viv believes customer interaction is a large part of this.

have I never heard of you?”

Viv realised she was positioned perfectly to market the business, but needed the financial backing. Leeds was the perfect place for the business and potential growth. Viv believes the help given in the city was incomparable “There’s lots of support in Leeds – Leeds council, Yorkshire regional food group, Leeds chambers, to name a few. Also road links for very good suppliers and university links mean there are plenty of customers and skilled workers.”

“We have been able to develop our Now with an annual turnover of around product range with existing customers and £1 million, 30 strong staff, supplying WITH 3,700 people employed by the food acquire new customers through increased cakes to Jet2, the Grand Central Railway company and First Hull trains, and drink sector in Leeds during 2011, a marketing and sales “Exquisite Hand-made cakes has arrived.

23% decline since 2001, it is a tough mar- efforts.” ket and only the best businesses survive. cakes’ next step Exsquisite have recently She is fully aware that without been awarded £50,000 is to team up clients there would be no busiIn such financially uncertain times, it in funding by Finance with the Ilkley ness, and therefore a strong reis uplifting to see that Leeds still holds Yorkshire, allowing the lationship is imperative to the opportunity and hope for entrepreneurs future of the business. Exquitrying to make their stamp on the business company’s profile to be brewery to raised. create a beer site cakes’ next step is to team world. up with the Ilkley brewery to cake” create a beer cake, sourced and Viv Parry, the managing director of Exqui- “We were failing at correctly marketing manufactured locally. site hand-made cakes, took the business through the recession profitably and is still the company. Although paths to the market were clear, something The future looks bright for Viv and her expanding. was missing.” company as she aims to “continue to grow, and form closer links to the public.”

Having previously worked as an accountant and in business overseas, she Ian Atkinson from Finance Yorkshire speaks highly of the business.

Viv fully believes the public is the key took a risk and poured £20,000 of assets to any success, and their interests must into a once small bakery.

“Exquisite cakes gained such success in always be the most important focus of the business.

“It was tough at first”, she states, describ- such a small space of time, It targeted a ing how she was forced to pay suppliers in growing market and now has a strong And like a true business woman, finishes cash and cram samples into a small car for influence on a national scale.” by saying how Exquisite hand-made cakes; sales trips.

The request was sent for the funding when a potential client, the owner of 90 coffee “Put irresistible into all our cakes.”

“My experience as a chartered accountshops around the country asked: “Why ant was perfect, to date I am still on a

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 31

Profile

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Round Foundry Media Centre in Leeds where Front Row Legal are situated.

SPECIALIST LAW FIRM FRONT ROW OF SPORTING LAW

Leeds Met graduate Richard Cramer is one of the most respected sport lawyers in the country.

We find out how he became so successful.

However, his career in sports law didn’t start as quickly as he would have liked.

After graduating in 1985 he went on to train at a small law firm, dealing with a few sports related matters and rubbing shoulders with one or two rugby players.

Jodie Hirst

Law Correspondent

SINCE graduating from Leeds Metropolitan University over 25 years ago, Richard Cramer has become a high flyer in the growing sector of sports law, going on to manage FrontRow Legal: the only specialist sport and media firm in Yorkshire.

Acting on behalf of high profile clients, he offers expert analysis on sport related law for Radio Leeds, Sky and the BBC, while training aspiring law students who are eager to follow in his footsteps.

“I have been a sports enthusiast from a young age and it certainly helps if you want to pursue this as a career.”

ing year they were excluded which cost them both fans and sponsors, so they took out an injunction to try and stop the new competition kicking off.

The story was soon picked up by all the newspapers.

“I was main advisor “As it was so high profile I Unable to to the Premier League began meeting up with top see a big when the Professional barristers from London enough Football Association and dealt with a number of market in Chairman and Administrasports law at called a strike on betors. For four weeks I was that time he half of the players... back and forth to London; left soon af- It was very stressful” doing TV interviews and ter. It wasn’t having meetings.” until a decade later that a high profile sporting case presented the opportunity Although the Super League kicked off he had been waiting for. without Keighley, who received compen“In 1995 I was a partner in the legal prac- sation, Cramer’s efforts saw him represent tice and had begun representing a Rugby the Aussies in the 1995 world cup followed by star clubs and players.

From League club which was involved in the that more opportunities then came to ‘Super League War.” develop further in sports law. He joined The club were Keighley Cougars who were with former Leeds United Solicitor, Peter about to get promoted to the first division McCormick at the end of 1995 and gained further experience in Rugby League, until the league got restructured. When the Super League was created the follow- Rugby Union and football.

Page 32 May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

Profile

Richard Cramer (on the left) attending the FrontRow Legal management breakfast seminar.

Whilst there he dealt with everything from contract and employment matters, to regulatory disputes. He also went on to see himself involved in yet another high profile case in 2001.

in general, with Sky changing things Leeds United went in to administration dramatically. You have got premiership in 2007 I did a lot of radio and televifootballers earning £150,000 to £200,000 sion work about the processes involved a week so there can be a lot of money in when there is insolvency. Then on the representing them. Sport has also become back of that the club were also involved much more accessible. You can generin arbitration where they were deducted “I was main adviser to the Premier League ally sit in your living room and enjoy a lot of points, so I acted as a legal expert when the Professional Football Associaany major sporting event which involves in arbitration for another club who were tion (PFA) called a strike on behalf of the England, as television has become a major involved in it.” players. I tried to issue an injunction to platform.” stop the strike from going ahead but in Now that FrontRow Legal has established the end it was successfully negotiated with The growth of social media has also meant itself as one of Yorkshires leading sports the PFA getting a cut of TV money. Again that there is more of a demand for legal law firms, Mr Cramer and his partner, it was very stressful and meant frequent representation in the sporting world with Clive Lawrence, are looking to expand. visits to London.” the likes of Twitter and Facebook causing a number of issues. Mr Cramer recently “We have one or two people we are alFrom the media attention surrounding obtained a ‘Blayney Order’ which forced ready looking to recruit. To join our team these cases, players began contacting Mr Facebook to disclose the IP address of an you have to be loyal, hard-working and Cramer to represent them. As McCorindividual who was impersonating a high- prepared to work un-sociable hours while mick’s was more of a club-based legal firm, profile sports personality. going the extra yard for your client. he saw the opportunity to set up his own practice, FrontRow Legal, in 2002.

He will also be putting on a seminar at the “When there is a high profile case we will Round Foundry Media Centre regardbe putting the hours in that the big firms FrontRow Legal, which has three lawyers ing the dangers work, it isn’t a 9-5 and two support staff, cover every aspect and opportunities “When Leeds United FC job here. At the end went in to administraof law ranging from Intellectual Property of London 2012, of the day, when to Contract and Employment law. The which will feature tion in 2007, I did a lot the chips are down of radio and television only difference being that it is tailored to social media as you have a big work about the process and sport related matters such as negotiating a way of ambush case you have to be involved when there is sponsorship deals and anti-doping (where marketing. willing to put the insolvency” a player is using recreational or perforwork in.” mance enhancing drugs).

“Twitter is going to be a big one as it will make it easier for A fellow sports enthusiast hoping to Mr Cramer acts for a number of sporting marketing companies to connect with become as successful as Mr Cramer is organisations and has a keen interest in athletes in a bid to link their company or Leeds Metropolitan law student, Kingsley football and rugby league. He also repre- brand to the event when they haven’t paid Wetherald, who is at the firm on a work sents high-profile individuals including to be official sponsors.” experience placement. former rugby league players Ellery Hanley and Shaun Edwards.

Unlike many lawyers Mr Cramer had me- “I have only been here a couple of weeks dia training at the same time as studying but I have learnt quite a lot, sitting in on After leaving a small law firm 25 years for his Masters in advanced litigation. meetings and seeing what Richard does is ago seeing no future in sports law, he has This has allowed him to develop and really interesting and something I know I gone on to become an accredited lawyer maintain a good relationship with the definitely want to go into.” with the Football Association and has media resulting in guest spots on the BBC, been thanked by Former Fulham ChairSky and regional radio channels where he Despite his busy schedule Mr Cramer still man Mohamad Al Fayed for his passion acts as a legal expert. has time to train and advise young, aspirto sport. ing lawyers who are eager and determined “I am frequently asked to appear on Radio to succeed in the field of sports law. It is “I think money has made a big difference Leeds when something big has happened that same determination and willingness in the expansion of sports law and sports in the sporting world. For example, when that got him where he is today.

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 33

Feature

LeedsMetropolitanBusinessReview

LEEDS LIMBERS City prepares for 2012 Olympic pics will be providing.

Jack Bramhall Health & Fitness

The organisation utilises events such as guest speakers, business workshops and networking events to help Yorkshire companies win these valuable contracts by using a government created portal called competefor.com.

This portal is designed to create a business network, where buyers can advertise their contracts for London 2012.

After this companies from around the UK can “compete” to win the contract by showing that they, as a business, are perfect for the job.

LEEDS has a very rich sporting history, and having teams playing at a professional level in the most popular sports in the UK means that this history is only going to get richer.

To use the portal companies have to register and provide details of their business, whilst making themselves as attractive as possible to potential employees.

The UK has the honour of hosting the Olympic Games next year, arguably the biggest sporting event in the world.

Throughout the bid there were promises of change to the UK and London - the UK was going to build a lasting legacy that would change the capital and also benefit other cities in the country.

The bonuses to London are obvious, with large amounts of the city being rejuvenated to create new jobs, housing and retail areas.

However the advantages for other cities are not so apparent. For instance here in Leeds, how will the Olympics benefit the city?

One of the big areas in which Leeds is contributing to the Olympics and how the Olympics is helping Leeds is through business contracts.

Too big for London

A project the size of the Olympics is too big for London to handle alone and as such outsourcing some of the work to companies around the United Kingdom is required.

In Yorkshire and Humber, the Yorkshire Gold Business Club (YGBC) are helping Yorkshire businesses get “fit to compete” by providing help for local companies to win some of these contracts that the Olym-

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This is where the Yorkshire Gold Business Club helps; it provides workshops and one to one help assisting businesses in making themselves as attractive as possible.

The YGBC has been successful in helping Yorkshire companies to win work in 2012 - figures show that 218 Yorkshire companies have successfully secured contracts relating to 2012.

There are also a lot of companies who they don’t know about, because unfortunately when companies win work on 2012 they sign a ‘no marketing’ clause, meaning it is very hard for the YGBC to know an exact figure and part of their work is finding out which companies have won work.

When it comes to these contracts that companies across the UK are competing for, there is a huge spectrum of different opportunities available beyond just the obvious construction.

Opportunities

Within the opportunities for the Olympics there is the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) who are responsible for the construction side of the Olympics.

There is also the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG). LOCOG are responsible for the delivery of the games - this is where all the smaller really specific opportunities arise, thing such as flagpoles, taxis and photography. One Yorkshire company has even won a contract making children’s wear.

This is not all that the Olympics offers Leeds.

Recently in the local press there have been many reports about national sports team utilising Leeds as their base of operations for the games.

These preOlympic training camps bring in a lot of bonuses for Leeds.

Secure contracts

Currently Leeds has secured contracts with a number of national teams such as the Dutch Swim Team; Russian Diving Team, Australian

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Feature

UP FOR GAMES

games that will make history Diving Team, USA Diving Team and the Canadian Wheelchair Rugby Team.

As well as these Leeds has also secured 2 other big contracts: one is with the Serbian Olympic Committee. Details are still being discussed as to how many athletes will set up in Leeds as part of this agreement.

The largest contract Leeds has won comes from the Chinese Olympic Committee. The contract has led to Leeds being announced as the training base for the Chinese Olympic team. The bonus from winning these contracts comes in two ways:

Direct benefits

Firstly there is a direct monetary benefit that comes from the teams paying for their accommodation, food, transport and training. This money goes to the provider of said service, putting money into the Leeds economy.

ETOA explains that during the Olympic period there is no demand for regular tourists and blames inflated hotel prices for the booking slump.

Secondly it is hoped that there will be a long term monetary gain from the profile, such as tourism and oversees students.

This will include more business opportunities for locals that stem directly from the acquisition of these contracts.

Leeds has done well in securing these contracts and it has been noted that Leeds has perhaps done better than a lot of its rival cities of a similar size, in the acquisition of these contracts.

Leeds has managed to secure these contracts by offering a mixture of excellent training facilities, such as the aquatics centre at John Charles Centre for Sport, which is one of the most modern pools in Great Britain.

Training facilities

As well as training facilities, accommodation is also of a high standard, with athletes using The University of Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan University’s excellent student accommodation.

With the acquisition of the Olympic Games in 2012 the public were promised a legacy that would benefit the country for years to come.

And it seems to be doing just that, with cities like Leeds standing to gain a great deal from the coming events.

Sally Hufton

Leisure and tourism HOTEL bookings for Leeds remain constant throughout 2012 despite tour operators seeing a national decline in tourism bookings for the Olympic period.

A survey by the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) revealed that holiday companies are experiencing “an average 90 per cent slump” in tourism bookings for the summer period, during the London Olympics.

Hotel prices in London have increased by up to three times the normal room rate for July and August 2012.

Hotel prices in Leeds will remain the same throughout the year, which may be why the city has survived the slump.

Deborah Hindley says: “Business is relatively flat at the minute in the city so people do not want to increase prices”.

“There’s a lot of competition among hotels so rates are very competitive”.

Deborah Hindley also explains: “The majority of hotel bookings in Leeds are business tourists wanting meetings and This comes regardless of tourism chiefs event spaces, and Saturdays especially will stay busy right through 2012”. saying the Games will boost Britain’s economy.

Tourism leaders are hoping the Games will bring an extra four million visitors Bookings in some cities have seen a decrease of up to 95%, however Leeds to the UK over the next four years. has not seen any downturn in bookings Alongside this Visit Britain predicts during the Olympic period. that tourism outside of London will benefit from £620 million from the Leeds Hotels and Venues Association Director Deborah Hindley says: “There Olympics. is anxiety because of the state of the 50 per cent of of this amount is likely to economy but we’ve not actually seen be accumulated after the sporting any down turn in the city”. event.

Tom Jenkins, executive director of

May 2012 Leeds Metropolitan Business Review Page 35

Profile

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Business links Daniel Rosney LAST summer I decided that I’d had enough. The rail network no longer did it for me, endlessly waiting on a busy, smelly, cold platform for a train that has been held up by leaves on the track. And so I spent my last penny on a Citroen Saxo. Jeremy Clarkson may not describe it as the most dependable car but it gets me to and from Manchester more efficiently than the Transpennine Express ever did.

you’ll be able to bob down for the Dialine, as well other things like apmond Jubilee celebrations in the afternoon prenticeships and enterprise”. That’s all and be back up at home to watch Emwell and good in theory but as we all know merdale. No, this “excellent new scheme” sometimes politicians break promises aso won’t be coming to Leeds until 2032, two Shadow transport secretary, Labour MP whole decades of waiting.

Maria Eagle wants a “binding legal comBut what does all this mean for Leeds and mitment” to ensure that the Chancellor our area now? It’s going to create jobs, and sticks to his word and the area will benefit, lots of them, well so Mr Osbourne says: not only in transport terms but also help“We are investing in the local infrastrucing unemployment levels. ture for transport, Twelve years into the Ms Eagle bea new Southern enApparently this is all going to change: the trance for the station 21st Century and we lieves that the are finally catching government have announced plans for a and electrifying the development of up with the rest of the high speed rail network, dubbed the HS2, the 250mph HS2 world, but it won’t happen for little while should begin to be introduced linking the four major yet cities of London, Birmingham, Manchesnot only in the ter and Leeds. The £32 billion scheme South but in the will apparently “bring Britain into the North and meet in the middle, similar to 21st Century” according to Chancellor how HS1 (the channel tunnel link) was George Osbourne. developed. It’d be a much fairer way to share out the 40,000 jobs that the developTwelve years into the 21st Century and ment will supposedly create. We’ve been we are finally catching up with the rest promised jobs before and with recent of the world but it won’t happen for figures claiming that there are now four a little while yet. Once again it seems people to every job in Leeds, it would be Leeds has been left out of the loop as it beneficial for something as small as 1% of were and Mr Government has thought the workload to come from the region.

“We’re going to have to include them aren’t we, I mean we are spending their Is this just another elaborate scam by the money…” government, for us to accept that they’re spending £32 billion on a network that Whilst on a whistle stop won’t be any use to us for 20 years? There tour of Leeds, Mr are two things that people like to hear Osbourne has hoped when governments announce some“[his] presence here thing new; that it will benefit the gentoday is an assureral public and create jobs. We would ance that we are like there to be a third option of ‘it absolutely comwill be free’ but that never happens mitted to linking and so when Mr Osbourne came Leeds to the to Leeds with his tail between his Midlands and legs he had those two points ready the South”. The to throw at anyone that challenged new link will be him over the cost. For the time able to get us being we can do nothing but be to the capital patient and see if the man in Lonin less than 2 don with his big map of the counhours, it has try and the rail network, plus his been reported chart of unemployment figures by some, but manages to succeed. Anyone don’t get your that’s around in 2032 please hopes up that note that your super fast train journey cost us £32 billion.

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